Lax Hogs punished by Morris

Arkansas coach Chad Morris directs his players Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, during practice at the university practice field on campus in Fayetteville.
Arkansas coach Chad Morris directs his players Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, during practice at the university practice field on campus in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks didn't look "up" early in Monday's practice, so Coach Chad Morris got down to brass tacks.

Morris delivered a tongue-lashing to the Hogs during a quick impromptu segment of up-downs early in practice, during which he said if the players didn't want to push then he would, and he had all day.

"Just a physical scrimmage, coming off an off day, I think the energy wasn't there, even in walk-throughs and warming up," linebacker De'Jon Harris said. "Like he said, we were walking from the grass field to the turf field, so that was the reason we had to do up-downs."

Cornerback Ryan Pulley said the extra work seemed inevitable from the start of practice.

"It didn't surprise us because we knew we didn't have energy when we went out there and people were walking around, so we knew we were going to get punished at some time out there today," Pulley said.

"You can't come out slow with Coach Morris," defensive lineman McTelvin Agim said. "If he sees it, it goes back to if you let it go now, you'll pay for it later in a game, so we had to get those up-downs."

Tight end Austin Cantrell said the pace of practice picked up after the punishment.

"I mean, you put it in perspective, and last year ... we didn't address it like that, you know what I mean?" Cantrell said.

"We were coming off the warm up and everything and I think guys just had to wake up," cornerback Chevin Calloway said. "We had to get our juices flowing and get that fuel running."

The Razorbacks responded quickly with a lively period of "Razorback"drills. Among the highlights was the work of receiver Jonathan Nance, who sprinted away in high spirits from his encounter with an unidentified defender and received praise from numerous offensive teammates.

Patton dinged

Tight end Jeremy Patton suffered a left foot or ankle injury Monday during the open portion of practice and was carted off the field.

According to UA officials, Patton returned to practice in a walking boot and was set to undergo further evaluations later Monday.

Patton, a 6-5, 253-pound senior, stayed down on the field after blocking rushers Santos Ramirez and Chevin Calloway on Connor Limpert's successful 47-yard field goal at the end of the first live "move the ball" sequence, led by quarterback Cole Kelley.

Members of the training staff consulted with Patton for a short time on the grass field before helping him over to the sideline. Patton, showing little emotion, walked gingerly on his left leg on the way to the sideline and was carted away moments later.

Patton and junior Austin Cantrell lead a deep pool of tight ends that also includes Cheyenne O'Grady, Grayson Gunter and Hayden Johnson.

"I don't think he'll be out that long, honestly," Cantrell said of Patton.

O-line shuffle

Shane Clenin took the early first-team reps at left tackle Monday as the offensive coaches continued to experiment with combinations up front due to injuries and pre-planned cross training.

Clenin paired with fellow redshirt freshman Dalton Wagner moving to right tackle in place of Brian Wallace, who was in a green (limited) jersey with a minor injury.

The other first-teamers were center Hjalte Froholdt, left guard Kirby Adcock and right guard Johnny Gibson. Austin Capps, now in jersey No. 54, was playing second-team right guard after making the move from defensive tackle late last week.

The second-team line was Noah Gatlin at left tackle, Capps, Dylan Hays at center, Silas Robinson at right guard and Ty Clary at right tackle.

New to the 110

Defensive lineman Griffin Hunt, who wears No. 58, and defensive back Thomas Muldrow (No. 39) have been added to the 110-man roster, but both are still in shorts as they go through the mandatory acclimatization period. Muldrow is from Prescott and and Hunt is from Lucas, Texas.

The two are replacing offensive lineman Deion Malone and defensive lineman B.J. Ferrell on the roster. Malone suffered a torn knee ligament last week and Ferrell, who had micro-fracture surgery on his knee in the summer, has been in a yellow (no-contact) jersey from the start of camp.

Had him

Safety Santos Ramirez had a clean shot at freshman quarterback John Stephen Jones during Saturday's full-scale scrimmage.

For an instant, Ramirez forgot that live tackling was allowed on Jones -- as it was on fellow freshmen quarterbacks Daulton Hyatt and Connor Noland -- and Jones wriggled away as Ramirez simply wrapped up and didn't bring him to the ground.

Quarterbacks have been off limits in Razorbacks scrimmages for years, but because the freshman class has strong runners at quarterback and the offense has depth at the position, Coach Chad Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock wanted to see them in live situations in the initial scrimmage.

"It was fun," Ramirez said. "I had an opportunity to cut loose on John Stephens Jones. I wrapped him up, and I forgot that he was live, and I ended up letting him go. I was like, 'You got lucky right there, man.'"

Ramirez said Jones stayed on his feet and carried on.

"Yeah, he kept going," Ramirez said. "I thought Coach Morris was going to blow the whistle. I was like, 'C'mon, you know I had that guy.' I'm not going to hurt the quarterback. But [Jones] really showed me some things today. He has a great arm on him. Like I said, I didn't expect him to run the ball that well, but he did today."

Goose bumps

Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said he felt moved walking into Razorback Stadium for Saturday's scrimmage.

"First of all, I got goose bumps walking into the stadium," Craddock said. "I looked out my office window and saw the big Razorback they just hung up on the scoreboard.

"Walking into that stadium this morning, it was pretty awesome. I got to walk in with some freshmen and it was pretty unique. I literally got chill bumps. ... I can't wait to see what it's going to be like on Sept. 1."

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Sports on 08/14/2018

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